If I was to stand up and make a drastic change in the US, it would be to stop them from questioning authority all the time like it is some evil thing. Instead, I would have them take responsibility for their figures of authority, because the government is made by the people, so the people should co-operate with it and be part of it. That way they can shape it into something they can be confident in.
Instead, what I see is Americans trying to abandon and reject their government. This isolates politicians, and in doing so allows corruption to grow within them unopposed. You can't pretend that it's not your fault that your government sucks, because it's the people that make it, and you are part of the people of the USA. Instead you've got to realize that as a citizen and a voter, you are part of the government.
The problem is with Insurance. We pay for all the administrators and billing people who we pay for our insurance. I say we get rid of all health insurance except catastrophic coverage. The only reason healthcare costs so much is because the Doctors, hospitals, and clinics know they can get whatever they charge. If we get rid of insurance, the blank check is gone. Costs would come down due to market forces
Actually, health care is universally cheaper in countries with universal health care, because the government sets a hard line on what doctors are allowed to charge for their services.
Next, without insurance, costs wouldn't change, doctors would just refuse to treat even more people, and more people would avoid treatment for the short term gain of more money in the pocket. Also, there is no point to only covering exceptional health care costs, because the basic costs will equal the costs of your current premiums anyways. All it does is make it easier for insurance companies to screw you with high premiums for plans you are even more unlikely to make claims on, and when you do make a claim, gives them more time to figure out how to get out of paying. On top of that, by not covering basic health care, you only encourage people to avoid taking care of themselves and preventative medicine to save a few bucks, leading to a much greater rate of catastrophic conditions. So even if catastrophic care was publicly run, it would still cost more.
Now, I supposed your 140 IQ genius is smart enough to know that $1000 in your pocket now is not worth $100,000 in catastrophic care later. However, I do believe that the average person is not always that smart, and usually too busy to think about it. I would rather have the government making the obvious, easy and smart decisions that I am too busy to make, leaving me to think about the hard questions facing society. It's better for all of us not to have bankrupt and sick people wandering the streets causing crime. We already know that healthy people and preventative medicine is universally good and cheaper for the society, so there is no need to force every individual to figure that out all over again every generation. So we just roll the costs into our taxes, and forget about it. It's a solved problem.
For example, sewage systems have an unquestionable benefit to all of society, as it reduces disease and smell. We don't force every individual to build their own personal sewage system, at least is cities, because it's a solved problem. It's better for society, and hence everyone in that society, to have them. So we roll the cost into our taxes and forget about it. After all, you wouldn't want your neighbour leaving raw sewage on his lawn. Neither would I want my neighbour going broke because of health care costs, then mugging me in the street to survive, because I'm rich enough to pay for my health care, but not rich enough to pay for a personal security entourage.
Sure the rich and genius types end up paying more, but the government isn't their personal servant. They exist to serve all of society, including the poor and foolish people who either can't take care of or don't care about their health. The government doesn't care that one man pays a lot for health care that ends up serving other people. They care about the big picture. That having that rich man pay for others enables a lower overall cost of health care for everyone and greater economic output thanks to a healthier society, which in fact makes that rich man
even richer.
Paying for people's health care is an investment in your society that offers great returns.
